Children and Trauma

When Bad Things Happen To Good People

With today’s social media and ability to report live news as it happens to our TV screens, Mobiles and Pcs it can be extremely difficult to prevent children from being exposed to scenes that can be traumatic ,disturbing and scary. So what can we say to our children to help them to understand without causing them further distress? Here are some ideas that we hope you’ll find helpful.

1 When children ask questions . Answer as honestly as you are able to, keep your language age appropriate and answers as simple as you can.

2 Find out what they know , what they think , what they are feeling

3 Listen , explore their questions offering realistic assurance.

4 Remember most of the time things are 0k – these things don’t happen all the time

9 Remember children don’t know everything , you can change their interpretations of events

10 Spend time together doing ‘normal ‘ things – keep routines and find opportunities to show that good things are still happening.

There are lots of agencies that offer support if you would like support or would like to share your ideas with us please contact us at support@bereavement.co.uk

Being Seen and not heard. What about the children?

AlexJames (c)

The dilemma for many families who may be facing the death of a close loved one or for whom a loved one has died. Should they involve the children and if so to what extent? What information should be given and how?

I recently visited a family where mums breast cancer had become more aggressive and her prognosis thought to be weeks, at best a couple of months. Thus far she and her husband had avoided talking to their children about the possible outcome. The children aged 8 and 6 had lived alongside their mothers illness for several years. They’d learnt to adapt to mummy’s sick days, loss of hair, and inability to do what other mummies seemed to do. “Should we involve the children now?” Dad asked “and if we do what do we say?” The oncologist had advised that they tell the children of their Mothers impending death, but the thought of telling the children that their mother was most definitely going to die, naturally filled them both with dread.

In this family the children are involved; they have been very much a part of the journey with mum and have probably got a good idea of what’s going on. The danger of not talking to the children is that children are very good at accessing information, will fill in the gaps with their own ideas, the added and often misguided information from their friends and of course where accessible the internet!

Although I would not condone telling a child that their parent is going to die I do think we should provide opportunities for children to ask their questions and to be as honest in our response as we are able. In this families situation, explaining that Mummy is probably not going to be able to have any more treatment and that she probably will not get better is enough, there after allowing the days to unfold and events to become clearer as the children observe them.

Telling a child Mummy is going to die, provokes the question When? To which there cannot be a definite answer. However should the child ask ’Is my mummy going to die?’ One cannot and should not lie. The answer would be ‘Yes, but we don’t know when.’ The follow on from such disclosure would then give the child a chance to talk to their Mother, express concerns and gain reassurance.

Allowing opportunity to spend time together, and share their grief. Children that have been included with opportunities to access information share .express their feelings and fears often adapt to the situation and seem to be able to manage far better than those that are excluded and may have picked up snippets of incorrect information or fantasy The exclusion also . Denying them precious opportunity to share with their dying loved one.

Funerals, should children attend?

This is a very personal choice to be made by the family. Where a child is old enough to communicate and has a relationship with the deceased, shouldn’t they be given opportunity to express themselves and to say their personal goodbye?

It is painful to observe our children in grief, as parents we want to protect them from things that cause distress. We may question the benefits of children observing others in distress, but we must accept that our children have rights and that with our loving guidance, clear and honest explanations the attendance at a funeral of a loved one presents an opportunity for them to be acknowledged and say goodbye.

Over time I have become aware that children are still ‘seen and not heard’ and are very often forgotten mourners. Many tell me how sad they felt when they were excluded from their loved ones funeral, often being told ‘It’s too sad’ or ‘You won’t like seeing everyone upset.’ The reality is we can’t bear your distress, we don’t want you to be sad, death is something we can’t fix or protect you from and so, for as long as we are able, we will avoid it and hope that as children you won’t notice it. But children do notice, they are like sponges absorbing everything and even when we believe them to be absorbed in an activity they are able to listen in on our conversations. So whilst I believe it is the right of individual families to decide, I also want to advise that before making the decision why not ask the child, find out what they know, clear a way for honest discussion and give the child opportunity to share their thoughts with you .

Children and Funerals

Ask the child/children what they know about funerals – You may be surprised!

Talk to them about the deceased and ask whether they have thought about how they would like to remember/say goodbye

They may like to write a letter or draw a picture.

Older children might like to write something to be read at the funeral.

Participating in Funeral Service:

If the child wishes to participate by offering their own contribution, guidance, support and reassurance will be needed, alongside the opportunity to change their mind should they wish to. It’s useful to have someone to stand with them if they wish to speak who able to assist them if they find it too difficult at the time. Just as it’s important to give opportunity for the child to speak, it is important to give permission not to participate or attend if they don’t want to.

Other ways to involve children might be the choice of music, poetry or service sheet. Where the death is of a close loved one i.e.. parent or sibling They may wish to choose the casket, be involved in choice of clothes for the deceased and in the place of burial or disposal of remains

There are several agencies that offer support to families and in particular children pre and post bereavement. Macmillan and Child bereavement UK are two agencies that I know offer some excellent reading material and support services.

Recommended reading

For more information , help or support please do contact us at

info@bereavement.co.uk or support@bereavement.co.uk

All personal details in this or any other article written by Alex James although based on fact have been changed in order to protect the identity of those concerned